My husband, ever eager to teach our children life skills, bent over to turn on the vacuum and farted audibly. He turned to our five and four year old children, James and Emma, who paid careful attention to the vacuum demonstration and said, “James farted.”
James looked indignant briefly and quickly countered, “Emma cut one.”
Emma gave her father a long steady look and said, “No, seriously James farted.”
My husband says he’s teaching important life lessons, political skills. I find this farfetched since Emma already exaggerates, embellishes and lies with the poise and spontaneity of a politician. As parents in Oakland we don’t get to play politics much, we’re too busy working two jobs to pay for the mortgage and the private schools.
Our family falls between the demographic cracks we get to check all the boxes for ethnicity and we earn enough live in Oakland, but not enough to buy political favors. My husband and I don’t matter and I don’t mind if we are left out of the discussion about Oakland’s future. Emma and James though they deserve a place at the table.
Here and now makes our children what they will become tomorrow and Mayor Brown and the Oakland City Council have failed Oakland’s children miserably. We had a youth and child sex industry blossom under the careful management of these “crime stoppers.” If you vilify minority youth for political gain, why should you be surprised when they are then exploited for profit? If you promise pork and cut deals to better serve voter rich affluent neighborhoods while schools and other city services disappear in poorer neighborhoods, how can you than be “shocked” when youth create their own entertainment by driving in cars.
I can’t bear to hear more promises of pork, police and bond initiatives. I want to hear an acceptance of failure and a sincere apology from Council President Ignacio De La Fuente to the children and parents of Oakland because his mistakes and mismanagement have cost our children their lives, their dreams and their futures. The Oakland City Council stinks up the council chambers with their sweet deals for developers, gaseous rhetoric, stupidity and arrogance then when bad things happen on their watch, they blame our kids. Come on Ignacio you farted, all we want is a simple, “excuse me.”
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Money Money Money
Well, payroll's getting better but not fixed. Hospital employees aired their concerns with the Board and the Medical Center now has a real investigative reporter covering it. J. Douglas Allen-Taylor one of Oakland's best thinkers and writers has made us his beat. I may be out of business.
To read all about it click here:
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?issue=03-24-06&storyID=23726
To read all about it click here:
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?issue=03-24-06&storyID=23726
Where's Waldo?
Bad managers just keep leaving ACMC. They just slip away and disappear since we got the new executive team. Waldo who Cambio put in charge of John George Psychiatric Pavilion has slipped quietly away. To read all about it click here:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_3639108
Ta Ta Waldo!
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_3639108
Ta Ta Waldo!
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
The Sykes Saga
Saga or a Soap Opera? Our ousted trustee continues to play to the press. Carson continues to act like a gentleman and well life goes on. The Authority Board Bylaws don't contemplate the possibility of a board member not acting in the best interest of the Medical Center or having a mental or emotional breakdown. Perhaps they will be modified to protect the Medical Center from villains, Sheriffs and opportunists who would like to loot Measure "A" and close the Medical Center from inside the Boardroom.
For the latest installment in our own little daytime TV drama click here:
http://www.chicoer.com/news/bayarea/ci_3604177
For the latest installment in our own little daytime TV drama click here:
http://www.chicoer.com/news/bayarea/ci_3604177
Adios Chainsaw
So Sheriff Charles Plummer’s announced his retirement effective January 2007, promises promises. I went to look into the details of his departure and found this great link.
It turns out Charlie was in charge of the Berkeley Police in 1969 with the free speech movement. I was 5 but I remember the tanks in front of our house, the teargas and the police pushing my father. Charlie and I go way back, so I say, “Hasta la vista Chainsaw!” To check out a great link and add your own insights click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Plummer_(sheriff))
It turns out Charlie was in charge of the Berkeley Police in 1969 with the free speech movement. I was 5 but I remember the tanks in front of our house, the teargas and the police pushing my father. Charlie and I go way back, so I say, “Hasta la vista Chainsaw!” To check out a great link and add your own insights click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Plummer_(sheriff))
Friday, March 10, 2006
SEIU Contract Approved
Unions members (all ACMC providers except the RNs) exhausted from endless inspection and negotiation voted three to one to accept a management settlement offer. To read the details on the SEIU website click here:
http://www.seiu616.org/docUploads/ACMC-Sum06.pdf
http://www.seiu616.org/docUploads/ACMC-Sum06.pdf
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Medical Center Attacked by the Left
The Berkeley Daily Planet has printed two pieces on one Medical Center trustee. Man that’s cold when you can’t trust a trustee! She’s out trashing the Medical Center and Supervisor Keith Carson. She’s a doctor, but not a medical doctor so she didn’t have to take the Hippocratic oath, “first do no harm.”
See, that’s the job of a trustee advocate for the institution, particularly financially. It requires smarts, patience and well, discretion. Before Measure “A” bond monies the Medical Center couldn’t find people to serve on the Board. This predictable pre-fabricated scandal shows us the dark side of Measure “A”. See this trustee represents not an isolated incident but a growing trend, she like many “community leaders” works for an organization, which would like to get its hands on more Measure “A” monies.
Non-profits and private hospitals, which serve “niche” markets, could reap huge financial benefit from the closure of Medical Center services. So while these other healthcare providers continue to dump their unprofitable clients into the Medical Center, they have begun a cackling spiteful chorus of criticism. Hospital CEO’s show up at Board meetings and insist that the Medical Center accept their costly and difficult patients. Then they turn around and say, “what a dump they should be closed down.”
So with community based providers in economic competion with the Medical Center, why would Supervisor Carson appoint a trustee with a conflict of interest to the Board? That’s an easy one, Supervisor Carson believes that all healthcare providers in Alameda County want to cooperate to best serve the communities in need. Keith Carson’s commitment to accessible healthcare has kept the Medical Center open for years. He believes that partnerships and cooperation between community clinics, non-profits and the Medical Center can create a comprehensive and efficient healthcare system for all county residents. He believes in our better nature and he continues to believe in this trustee.
Supervisor Carson like most of the Medical Center staff did not anticipate the vicious attacks launched at the Medical Center since Measure “A”. Sheriff Plummer, other hospitals, a trustee and now the Berkeley Daily Planet have all attacked the Medical Center. That’s what’s wrong with liberals, we have a “progressive paper” an African American Community Leader and a “progressive reporter” all attacking a public hospital with the likely outcome being that, taxpayer monies go back to the county general fund and get spent on our prisons. Way to go team!
The Daily Dirt has published more than one viciously critical article about Supervisor Carson, to these attacks he and his staff have always responded, “That’s your job my friend, you are an advocate for the uninsured, keep it up.”
See, that’s the job of a trustee advocate for the institution, particularly financially. It requires smarts, patience and well, discretion. Before Measure “A” bond monies the Medical Center couldn’t find people to serve on the Board. This predictable pre-fabricated scandal shows us the dark side of Measure “A”. See this trustee represents not an isolated incident but a growing trend, she like many “community leaders” works for an organization, which would like to get its hands on more Measure “A” monies.
Non-profits and private hospitals, which serve “niche” markets, could reap huge financial benefit from the closure of Medical Center services. So while these other healthcare providers continue to dump their unprofitable clients into the Medical Center, they have begun a cackling spiteful chorus of criticism. Hospital CEO’s show up at Board meetings and insist that the Medical Center accept their costly and difficult patients. Then they turn around and say, “what a dump they should be closed down.”
So with community based providers in economic competion with the Medical Center, why would Supervisor Carson appoint a trustee with a conflict of interest to the Board? That’s an easy one, Supervisor Carson believes that all healthcare providers in Alameda County want to cooperate to best serve the communities in need. Keith Carson’s commitment to accessible healthcare has kept the Medical Center open for years. He believes that partnerships and cooperation between community clinics, non-profits and the Medical Center can create a comprehensive and efficient healthcare system for all county residents. He believes in our better nature and he continues to believe in this trustee.
Supervisor Carson like most of the Medical Center staff did not anticipate the vicious attacks launched at the Medical Center since Measure “A”. Sheriff Plummer, other hospitals, a trustee and now the Berkeley Daily Planet have all attacked the Medical Center. That’s what’s wrong with liberals, we have a “progressive paper” an African American Community Leader and a “progressive reporter” all attacking a public hospital with the likely outcome being that, taxpayer monies go back to the county general fund and get spent on our prisons. Way to go team!
The Daily Dirt has published more than one viciously critical article about Supervisor Carson, to these attacks he and his staff have always responded, “That’s your job my friend, you are an advocate for the uninsured, keep it up.”
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Happy Hedgehog Day!
“Mommy do you know what day it is?”
“Emma do you know what time it is? It’s still dark out.”
“ Mommy today is Hedgehog day!”
“The Hedgehog gets out of bed and looks for his shadow, then his mommy makes him breakfast.”
You know me, any excuse to talk about our fury friends. So what about our darling, Dave Kears, the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency Director? Well, he’s presiding over the Measure “A” Oversight Committee; mostly they’re supposed to fight about the 25% slush fund that Dave sucked off the top in exchange for not undermining the Measure. Apparently we got a greedy bunch of white guys. Over 20 members and only two women and one or two Latinos depending on how you choose to classify Charlie Ridgell from UHW. I don’t care what he says, he’s a Chilango-that’s a Mexico City, Mexican. So, basically Dave and some other white guys are in charge of Measure “A.”
The white guy factor explains how more than 3 million Measure “A” dollars went to Telecare for profit psychiatric services, they’re kind of the McDonalds of mental health. As an Oakland resident, I’m thrilled to be subsidizing them with my tax monies as well as putting up with their facilities and their under-medicated clients screaming on my corners and sleeping in my parks. Dave’s a real cash cow for Telecare and we foot the bill.
Apparently the committee members have their sights on the Medical Center monies as well. They have that sense of entitlement that privileged people have. So the oversight committee, like most committees under Dave will be a fight over cash, instead of a reasoned dialog about how to best serve the sick, but right now I don’t care. It’s been a long cold winter but I can finally smell the wet beginning of spring.
“Emma do you know what time it is? It’s still dark out.”
“ Mommy today is Hedgehog day!”
“The Hedgehog gets out of bed and looks for his shadow, then his mommy makes him breakfast.”
You know me, any excuse to talk about our fury friends. So what about our darling, Dave Kears, the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency Director? Well, he’s presiding over the Measure “A” Oversight Committee; mostly they’re supposed to fight about the 25% slush fund that Dave sucked off the top in exchange for not undermining the Measure. Apparently we got a greedy bunch of white guys. Over 20 members and only two women and one or two Latinos depending on how you choose to classify Charlie Ridgell from UHW. I don’t care what he says, he’s a Chilango-that’s a Mexico City, Mexican. So, basically Dave and some other white guys are in charge of Measure “A.”
The white guy factor explains how more than 3 million Measure “A” dollars went to Telecare for profit psychiatric services, they’re kind of the McDonalds of mental health. As an Oakland resident, I’m thrilled to be subsidizing them with my tax monies as well as putting up with their facilities and their under-medicated clients screaming on my corners and sleeping in my parks. Dave’s a real cash cow for Telecare and we foot the bill.
Apparently the committee members have their sights on the Medical Center monies as well. They have that sense of entitlement that privileged people have. So the oversight committee, like most committees under Dave will be a fight over cash, instead of a reasoned dialog about how to best serve the sick, but right now I don’t care. It’s been a long cold winter but I can finally smell the wet beginning of spring.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
My People
“Yo, Annie come here!”
“I’m on the phone Frank! Wait!”
“OK, what?”
My uncle Frank had twelve bottles of pills open on the table, he meticulously counted and loaded his one-week pillbox, and halfway through he already had five or six pills in each cell. He picked up some small pink pills and handed them to me.
“You want me to take these?”
“ No, I want you to get me these cheaper. These pills cost six dollars a piece and I take three a day. Can you get them for two dollars?”
“Frank, I’m a physical therapist not a pharmacist.”
My uncles’ brag about how cheap they get things, my uncle Gene had a two hundred dollar set of dentures. When he was working on a Fire Department boat on lake Michigan, he sneezed and they flew out of his mouth into the lake. The cheap bastard sent the frogmen down to find his teeth.
We buried my uncle Frank with his clicker, his toothpicks, a deck of cards and a poker chip. Lots of things aged and killed my uncle, the Korean War, too many beef sandwiches, coffee cake, polish food, the clicker and the TV, but the cost of the pills put a price on his health. Frank spent thousands on us nieces and nephews and since he never married, had a job as a teamster and a degree in accounting, he left a pile of cash. Uncle Frank never thought of himself as an important person and with the cost of the pills, I guess it didn’t seem like a worth-wile investment.
OK, my family may not be the statistical norm, but I think there are a lot of old folks out there looking at those Medicare Part D forms, throwing up their hands in disgust and going out for a bacon cheeseburger.
“I’m on the phone Frank! Wait!”
“OK, what?”
My uncle Frank had twelve bottles of pills open on the table, he meticulously counted and loaded his one-week pillbox, and halfway through he already had five or six pills in each cell. He picked up some small pink pills and handed them to me.
“You want me to take these?”
“ No, I want you to get me these cheaper. These pills cost six dollars a piece and I take three a day. Can you get them for two dollars?”
“Frank, I’m a physical therapist not a pharmacist.”
My uncles’ brag about how cheap they get things, my uncle Gene had a two hundred dollar set of dentures. When he was working on a Fire Department boat on lake Michigan, he sneezed and they flew out of his mouth into the lake. The cheap bastard sent the frogmen down to find his teeth.
We buried my uncle Frank with his clicker, his toothpicks, a deck of cards and a poker chip. Lots of things aged and killed my uncle, the Korean War, too many beef sandwiches, coffee cake, polish food, the clicker and the TV, but the cost of the pills put a price on his health. Frank spent thousands on us nieces and nephews and since he never married, had a job as a teamster and a degree in accounting, he left a pile of cash. Uncle Frank never thought of himself as an important person and with the cost of the pills, I guess it didn’t seem like a worth-wile investment.
OK, my family may not be the statistical norm, but I think there are a lot of old folks out there looking at those Medicare Part D forms, throwing up their hands in disgust and going out for a bacon cheeseburger.
Bow-wow!
Vote for Jim Price he’s the underdog, bow-wow!
Vote for Jim Price and your wildest dreams will come true!
Jim Price’s father worked at Highland as a Psychiatric Technician, Jim’s got public healthcare in his blood. A psych tech is real hands on in your face healthcare, it’s not some sissy ninny job that you can fake, half do or coast through. After a 30-year career as a psych tech daddy Price still has the energy to be Santa for the neighborhood kids. Alice Lai-Bitker, the incumbent county supervisor got her seat because she worked as Wilma Chan’s chief of staff. The Alameda County political machine made the decision not the voters.
Alice is “Chainsaw Charlie Plummer’s” gal. Actually I think the sheriff likes Gail Steele better, Gail’s positively passionate about prisons, but Alice is his type of chick too. Alice dresses nice and doesn’t make waves; in fact she hasn’t even made a ripple in years. She regularly gets the county supervisors Pet Rock award. The “big dog” county bureaucrats, Susan Muranishi, Dave Kears and Charlie Plummer, consider her the most easily influenced supervisor. She prefers to let them do her thinking.
So, I say cast a vote for change, leadership and the underdog, Jim Price. Hey, he could win and your wildest dreams could come true. Bow-wow!
Vote for Jim Price and your wildest dreams will come true!
Jim Price’s father worked at Highland as a Psychiatric Technician, Jim’s got public healthcare in his blood. A psych tech is real hands on in your face healthcare, it’s not some sissy ninny job that you can fake, half do or coast through. After a 30-year career as a psych tech daddy Price still has the energy to be Santa for the neighborhood kids. Alice Lai-Bitker, the incumbent county supervisor got her seat because she worked as Wilma Chan’s chief of staff. The Alameda County political machine made the decision not the voters.
Alice is “Chainsaw Charlie Plummer’s” gal. Actually I think the sheriff likes Gail Steele better, Gail’s positively passionate about prisons, but Alice is his type of chick too. Alice dresses nice and doesn’t make waves; in fact she hasn’t even made a ripple in years. She regularly gets the county supervisors Pet Rock award. The “big dog” county bureaucrats, Susan Muranishi, Dave Kears and Charlie Plummer, consider her the most easily influenced supervisor. She prefers to let them do her thinking.
So, I say cast a vote for change, leadership and the underdog, Jim Price. Hey, he could win and your wildest dreams could come true. Bow-wow!
Monday, January 16, 2006
Go Oakland Tribune!
The Oakland Tribune printed an editorial calling for support for the medical center and political accountability. They pointed out that Cambio Healthcare Solutions left a huge mess on the CEO’s plate. They rightly pointed out that to solve problems Mr. Lassiter needs the full support of the county supervisors.
http://insidebayarea.com/search/ci_3405220
http://insidebayarea.com/search/ci_3405220
Thank You Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
We need heroes and leaders and more importantly we need to live up to their hopes and dreams for us. The medical center has many people who fought with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to make this country a better place. Everyday those of us who work at the medical center benefit from their thoughtfulness, their compassion and their love. The African American, staff particularly the women, have a fierce commitment to caring and to the dream of a better country. It is their leadership and love that has taught me to be a better clinician, a better person and a better parent.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Head Games
Well, we’re in the news again. It’s a rehashing of old bad news about poor staffing at John George Psychiatric Pavilion, part of Cambio’s legacy of unsolved problems.
See, we have more seriously mentally ill patients than we are able to safely treat at John George. Dave Kears, Alameda County’s Healthcare Czar pays non-profits and the biggest for profit (not patients) mental health franchise, Telecare, to keep people sane and out of John George. When they fail they dump everyone back into the county hospital, the county supervisors then blame the medical center for not meeting their needs.
Sure, John George needs better management and more nurses, but it’s being overwhelmed because the county’s privatized mental health services are failing miserably.
We don’t have coordinated mental health services and private providers continue to fail in their mission and dump their problems into the medical center.
It is time for the county supervisors to step up to the plate and create a mental healthcare system that serves the mentally ill, as well as the corporations, which profit from their suffering.
To read the gory details click here:
http://insidebayarea.com/search/ci_3393136
See, we have more seriously mentally ill patients than we are able to safely treat at John George. Dave Kears, Alameda County’s Healthcare Czar pays non-profits and the biggest for profit (not patients) mental health franchise, Telecare, to keep people sane and out of John George. When they fail they dump everyone back into the county hospital, the county supervisors then blame the medical center for not meeting their needs.
Sure, John George needs better management and more nurses, but it’s being overwhelmed because the county’s privatized mental health services are failing miserably.
We don’t have coordinated mental health services and private providers continue to fail in their mission and dump their problems into the medical center.
It is time for the county supervisors to step up to the plate and create a mental healthcare system that serves the mentally ill, as well as the corporations, which profit from their suffering.
To read the gory details click here:
http://insidebayarea.com/search/ci_3393136
Sunday, January 08, 2006
The Year In Dirt (2005)
“Memories, like the corners of our mind, misty …”
-Some seventies song I hated
Like most medical center employees, I seldom have the time or energy for reflection but I’m told it helps, so here goes.
We started out 2005 with Cambio Healthcare Solutions at the helm of the ship (have you ever heard the expression, “ in a sinking ship with blind sailors.”) The turnaround team would fly in Tuesday through Thursday and not pay bills and attempt to cut or contract out services. They gave all the union psychiatrists at John George Pavilion two weeks notice; they had planned to contract out the mental health services to the Psychic Hotline. They implemented a 35-step process for approval of all purchase orders over fifty cents. Hospital vendors hounded department heads for unpaid bills and had begun to threaten to stop delivery on non-essential items like oxygen.
The county budget battles began early with Sheriff Plummer and the DA positioning themselves to gobble up any Measure “A” monies Plummer squeeze out of the medical center. In a well-orchestrated attempt to loot the medical center budget the sheriff, the county sups and their minions rolled out the plan. “Chainsaw” Charlie Plummer was nominated to be on the Hospital Authority Board, all of the county sups now vigorously deny having made the nomination but it happened with great fanfare and press coverage. Around the same time Grand Jury Foreman Keith Boyer, a retired Sheriff and congressman “ Pete” Stark’s son, baby Stark, released a scathing report on the medical center. The report read just like Sheriff Plummer’s many letters to the county sups about the medical center, light on facts and heavy on ideology. Coincidence or corruption, you be the judge?
Well, the unions and Vote Health couldn’t take this mess lying down. They pointed out that the appointment of the sheriff to the hospital authority was unwise, unethical and probably illegal. Politicians, especially county sups respond poorly to reason so Brad Cleveland, Kay Eisenhower and hospital employees created a flash mob. Hundreds of phone calls, faxes and emails later the sups saw the light and withdrew the nomination. Then the Hospital Authority Board in an impressive display of brains and balls wrote a response to the scathing grand jury report.
Cambio ever touting their successes spent their last months concocting a bogus budget; according to their beautifully typed presentations they had met their performance goals and cured the county hospital. The medical center even without Cambio’s lies, half-truths and excessive fees still has a much more stable future because of Measure “A” and toward the end of the year we got real executives. Wright Lassiter III has the poise and charisma of a Senator and Bill Manns doesn’t look old enough to drink but he’s super smart and he’s not work shy. He goes home from his twelve-hour days and fixes his own floors and gutters. He needs to stay off his roof in the rain; he really doesn’t want to end up in the emergency department with us cutting off his clothes.
-Some seventies song I hated
Like most medical center employees, I seldom have the time or energy for reflection but I’m told it helps, so here goes.
We started out 2005 with Cambio Healthcare Solutions at the helm of the ship (have you ever heard the expression, “ in a sinking ship with blind sailors.”) The turnaround team would fly in Tuesday through Thursday and not pay bills and attempt to cut or contract out services. They gave all the union psychiatrists at John George Pavilion two weeks notice; they had planned to contract out the mental health services to the Psychic Hotline. They implemented a 35-step process for approval of all purchase orders over fifty cents. Hospital vendors hounded department heads for unpaid bills and had begun to threaten to stop delivery on non-essential items like oxygen.
The county budget battles began early with Sheriff Plummer and the DA positioning themselves to gobble up any Measure “A” monies Plummer squeeze out of the medical center. In a well-orchestrated attempt to loot the medical center budget the sheriff, the county sups and their minions rolled out the plan. “Chainsaw” Charlie Plummer was nominated to be on the Hospital Authority Board, all of the county sups now vigorously deny having made the nomination but it happened with great fanfare and press coverage. Around the same time Grand Jury Foreman Keith Boyer, a retired Sheriff and congressman “ Pete” Stark’s son, baby Stark, released a scathing report on the medical center. The report read just like Sheriff Plummer’s many letters to the county sups about the medical center, light on facts and heavy on ideology. Coincidence or corruption, you be the judge?
Well, the unions and Vote Health couldn’t take this mess lying down. They pointed out that the appointment of the sheriff to the hospital authority was unwise, unethical and probably illegal. Politicians, especially county sups respond poorly to reason so Brad Cleveland, Kay Eisenhower and hospital employees created a flash mob. Hundreds of phone calls, faxes and emails later the sups saw the light and withdrew the nomination. Then the Hospital Authority Board in an impressive display of brains and balls wrote a response to the scathing grand jury report.
Cambio ever touting their successes spent their last months concocting a bogus budget; according to their beautifully typed presentations they had met their performance goals and cured the county hospital. The medical center even without Cambio’s lies, half-truths and excessive fees still has a much more stable future because of Measure “A” and toward the end of the year we got real executives. Wright Lassiter III has the poise and charisma of a Senator and Bill Manns doesn’t look old enough to drink but he’s super smart and he’s not work shy. He goes home from his twelve-hour days and fixes his own floors and gutters. He needs to stay off his roof in the rain; he really doesn’t want to end up in the emergency department with us cutting off his clothes.
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Squirrels and Other Rodents
I have this Camellia I’ve pampered all year, it has dark green foliage and huge deep red flowers with yellow stamens. I have it in a pot in front of the living room window. I repotted it, fertilized it and loved it all year; it has huge buds, which promise to bloom in late winter early spring. The other day I looked out the living room window and the red of the petals had started to show. A squirrel ran down the Oak tree and up the camellia it pulled off a flower bud like it was picking an apple and sat on the edge of the terra cotta pot and took a huge bite. I started waving my hands and stomping my feet in the window. The squirrel turned his head slowly toward me and stuck up his middle finger.
So what about the medical center’s favorite fury friend, Dave Kears? Dave runs the Alameda County Healthcare Services Agency. So complex and confusing are the county’s budget battles and bureaucratic labyrinths that those charged with serving the county’s poor spend most of their time serving Dave Kears and fighting other organizations they should be working with, for cash and turf. Sure we have some great services but they all operate in a vacuum instead of cooperating to provide the best care. Closing the medical center and looting Measure “A” funds are top priorities for the secret squirrel: he needs more cash for brain-dead billboards, consultants and committees.
With winter here and the new executives distracted by operational issues and settling labor contracts, opportunity knocks. Kears can’t take money outright but he can attack the medical center’s credibility and bottom line. It’s a shell game; Alameda County Healthcare Services Agency makes consultants rich, gives fat contracts to political suck ups and leaves the poor, sick and confused. For years the agency has been trying and failing to get county residents enrolled in Healthy Families, a program which gives low-income families MediCal (state paid health insurance.) Tons of county residents qualify but don’t get the services because of the daunting and bureaucratic application process, and the complete and total ineptitude of Alameda County’s Health Care Service Agency.
So of course Healthy Families has flopped but Kears knows how to turn personal failure into opportunity! Kears has now mandated the cumbersome and overwhelming state application, the 1-E-Application for financial eligibility, be used at the medical center. This electronic application can then go directly to the state’s computer, decreasing the time needed to get MediCal. They haven’t worked out the technical details like software compatibility with the state, necessary middleware or how to convert all archived paper applications to the new electronic format, but in theory it’s a great idea. In practice in order for the medical center to get the MediCal a patient desperately needs and deserves, the medical center must get detailed information about the whole family. So Highland’s overworked, underpaid and under resourced eligibility clerks now have to get a translator to explain to the patient that they need their mother’s bank account records for the medical center to get them the coverage they need to get dialysis.
Imposing this application on the medical center increases the time and complexity of each financial screen and because of the huge amount of information required, it decreases the success rate for the same reason. Kears is no dummy he conceded this might be difficult so he threw the medical center some “chump change” for a couple extra, temporary, non-union clerks. See Dave’s not looking for success, he doesn’t care about the county’s poor or sick; he cares about his beloved bureaucracy. Kears plans to shift blame for Alameda County’s failure to get families the state health coverage they deserve, onto the medical center.
So what about the medical center’s favorite fury friend, Dave Kears? Dave runs the Alameda County Healthcare Services Agency. So complex and confusing are the county’s budget battles and bureaucratic labyrinths that those charged with serving the county’s poor spend most of their time serving Dave Kears and fighting other organizations they should be working with, for cash and turf. Sure we have some great services but they all operate in a vacuum instead of cooperating to provide the best care. Closing the medical center and looting Measure “A” funds are top priorities for the secret squirrel: he needs more cash for brain-dead billboards, consultants and committees.
With winter here and the new executives distracted by operational issues and settling labor contracts, opportunity knocks. Kears can’t take money outright but he can attack the medical center’s credibility and bottom line. It’s a shell game; Alameda County Healthcare Services Agency makes consultants rich, gives fat contracts to political suck ups and leaves the poor, sick and confused. For years the agency has been trying and failing to get county residents enrolled in Healthy Families, a program which gives low-income families MediCal (state paid health insurance.) Tons of county residents qualify but don’t get the services because of the daunting and bureaucratic application process, and the complete and total ineptitude of Alameda County’s Health Care Service Agency.
So of course Healthy Families has flopped but Kears knows how to turn personal failure into opportunity! Kears has now mandated the cumbersome and overwhelming state application, the 1-E-Application for financial eligibility, be used at the medical center. This electronic application can then go directly to the state’s computer, decreasing the time needed to get MediCal. They haven’t worked out the technical details like software compatibility with the state, necessary middleware or how to convert all archived paper applications to the new electronic format, but in theory it’s a great idea. In practice in order for the medical center to get the MediCal a patient desperately needs and deserves, the medical center must get detailed information about the whole family. So Highland’s overworked, underpaid and under resourced eligibility clerks now have to get a translator to explain to the patient that they need their mother’s bank account records for the medical center to get them the coverage they need to get dialysis.
Imposing this application on the medical center increases the time and complexity of each financial screen and because of the huge amount of information required, it decreases the success rate for the same reason. Kears is no dummy he conceded this might be difficult so he threw the medical center some “chump change” for a couple extra, temporary, non-union clerks. See Dave’s not looking for success, he doesn’t care about the county’s poor or sick; he cares about his beloved bureaucracy. Kears plans to shift blame for Alameda County’s failure to get families the state health coverage they deserve, onto the medical center.
Monday, December 26, 2005
Celebrate
"My friend Daniel celebrates Hanukkah. I celebrate..... sea lions."
Emma Rose Nomura Fisher (4 years old)
Emma Rose Nomura Fisher (4 years old)
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Thanksgiving
‘Tis the season to withdraw from alcohol, overdose, breakdown, or my personal favorite overeat. Don’t laugh over eating, or dietary indiscretion as we call professionals call it, lands lots of people up in the hospital. It’s the fat and salt that tips you right over into heart failure.
Isn’t that a great emphismism, dietary indiscretion, it sounds like you slept with a Danish, when actually all you did is wake up late and finish off the left over turkey, dressing, and three pies. Americans have so much wealth and so little happiness. We have so much stuff and so little security; we all need a warm safe place to go where we can be cared for.
So the hospital has filled up with people, trying to get well, to get warm or to get the help they need to die with dignity and comfort. Fear of illness and the cost of illness has become a disease onto itself here in the U.S. So people come to the hospital so sick and so frightened, and so shocked and grateful for the care we give them. The holidays provides a huge opportunity to help to heal and to comfort, it also gives those of us lucky enough to work at the medical center an up close and personal view of how hard our country has become.
The medical center, in spite of staff shortages, broken equipment, consultants, turnarounds, somersaults and frontal attacks on revenue by the Sheriff and other sundry politicians, remains a warm place. We try to give patients what they need to get well and to care for each other and patients understand that we have very few resources with which to help them but that we will do all we can with what we have.
Isn’t that a great emphismism, dietary indiscretion, it sounds like you slept with a Danish, when actually all you did is wake up late and finish off the left over turkey, dressing, and three pies. Americans have so much wealth and so little happiness. We have so much stuff and so little security; we all need a warm safe place to go where we can be cared for.
So the hospital has filled up with people, trying to get well, to get warm or to get the help they need to die with dignity and comfort. Fear of illness and the cost of illness has become a disease onto itself here in the U.S. So people come to the hospital so sick and so frightened, and so shocked and grateful for the care we give them. The holidays provides a huge opportunity to help to heal and to comfort, it also gives those of us lucky enough to work at the medical center an up close and personal view of how hard our country has become.
The medical center, in spite of staff shortages, broken equipment, consultants, turnarounds, somersaults and frontal attacks on revenue by the Sheriff and other sundry politicians, remains a warm place. We try to give patients what they need to get well and to care for each other and patients understand that we have very few resources with which to help them but that we will do all we can with what we have.
Lassiter Alert
That’s right, Wright’s out and about thanking staff for working so hard. He gets big points for noticing the hospital has filled up and backed up with really sick people. I appreciate the support, apparently he’s working days and nights while his dogs chew up his new California home. Wright Lassiter III comes from Texas where you can by a small town for what a two-bedroom house in Monclair costs you. Still, in the pit of my stomach I have a deep uneasy feeling about Mr. Lassiter. He’s nice, he’s smart he’s positive and hard working but he’s from Texas, which begs the inevitable and ominous question: is he a Dallas Cowboys fan? I can’t stand the Cowboys!
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Poets, Philosophers and Politicians
So the medical center can’t decide what to pay healthcare providers because they have yet to develop a “compensation philosophy”.
I have a liberal arts education. I read Kant, Locke, Descartes but I never heard of a compensation philosopher. The management bargaining team assures us that the executive committee considers “compensation philosophy” a top priority. I imagine them all sitting around a steamy bathhouse in white towels contemplating different philosophical positions.
Maybe our compensation philosopher has a thick beard and an old pipe and is sitting out under tree somewhere vigorously contemplating. It is unclear to me which department ACMC’s philosopher would report to. I would suggest HR, that’s the department that seems most conducive to uninterrupted thought.
Still, one ponders, if we need a philosopher, shouldn’t we have a poet. You can get a good poet at a great price in the Bay Area but I think the poet should have union protections. Well, I find it comforting to know that our executive leaders have taken up the big philosophical questions and I’m eager to learn what all this deep thinking produces.
I have a liberal arts education. I read Kant, Locke, Descartes but I never heard of a compensation philosopher. The management bargaining team assures us that the executive committee considers “compensation philosophy” a top priority. I imagine them all sitting around a steamy bathhouse in white towels contemplating different philosophical positions.
Maybe our compensation philosopher has a thick beard and an old pipe and is sitting out under tree somewhere vigorously contemplating. It is unclear to me which department ACMC’s philosopher would report to. I would suggest HR, that’s the department that seems most conducive to uninterrupted thought.
Still, one ponders, if we need a philosopher, shouldn’t we have a poet. You can get a good poet at a great price in the Bay Area but I think the poet should have union protections. Well, I find it comforting to know that our executive leaders have taken up the big philosophical questions and I’m eager to learn what all this deep thinking produces.
Ho Ho Ho
Here we go again. The medical center did get some good news, Kay Eisenhower the chair of Vote Health and Brad Cleveland (SEIU 616) both got appointed to the Measure “A” oversight committee. Supervisor Nate Miley in a fit of good judgment appointed Kay. This should slow any obvious looting and if there is any malfeasance, at least we’ll get to read about it in the Vote Health newsletter.
For anyone who doesn’t know about Vote Health they’re worth checking out, they’re a real grass roots community group. They give you big bangs for little bucks. We live in the era of polished plastic nonprofits, all fundraising all the time. Vote Health is an eclectic collection of healthcare policy super heroes. All advocacy all the time. Check them out http://www.votehealth.org/ or just send them a check.
So aside from that news about the committees, what’s happening back at the farm? Well, Wright Lassiter the 3rd, the new CEO, scored some big points with the little people for actually admitting that payroll is having some “difficulties” and saying he’d try to fix it.
For anyone who doesn’t know about Vote Health they’re worth checking out, they’re a real grass roots community group. They give you big bangs for little bucks. We live in the era of polished plastic nonprofits, all fundraising all the time. Vote Health is an eclectic collection of healthcare policy super heroes. All advocacy all the time. Check them out http://www.votehealth.org/ or just send them a check.
So aside from that news about the committees, what’s happening back at the farm? Well, Wright Lassiter the 3rd, the new CEO, scored some big points with the little people for actually admitting that payroll is having some “difficulties” and saying he’d try to fix it.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
